


Strange Medicine

by serenissima (killalla)



Category: Mushishi, Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-16 00:46:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13043004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killalla/pseuds/serenissima
Summary: O marvellous cat,Why do you walk between worlds?To drink with my friend!





	Strange Medicine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Encyclopediac](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Encyclopediac/gifts).



The cat kept staring at Ginko. It was an unusual sight in such a remote mountain village. Winter had frozen the ground hard, and small wildlife was sparse, so most of the cats he’d seen were feral creatures, lean and wary of humans. This one, however, was a large tom, with distinctive orange and grey patches on a white coat. Sleek and shining, it was clearly well cared for, and sported a red collar with a golden bell. It was also the size of a small boar.

There was something uncanny about it, actually. Ginko hadn’t noticed it upon his arrival, but over the past three days, as he treated the granddaughter of the village headman for a sleeping sickness caused by certain grass mushi, the cat had slowly made its presence known – almost as it if were stalking him. He would catch it watching him at odd times, and once he woke in the middle of the night just as it was running out of him room, tail lashing.

Finishing his cigarette, Ginko hefted his large wooden box and started walking. If he headed up the mountain and through the narrow pass, he could follow the Koumyaku back towards the ocean. Perhaps he could even circle back to Adashino’s village – it had been some time since he had seen the doctor, and he had a few new oddities that might interest his friend.

As he reached a clearing, he stopped. Somehow, the cat had gotten ahead of him, and it was sitting here at the crossroads waiting for him. When Ginko paused, it gently head-butted him in the right leg. The cat wanted him to turn left, and instead of taking the pass, head down into the narrow valley below. He was fairly sure there wasn’t a settlement there. Ginko began to get that prickly feeling he had sometimes when something was wrong. Was the cat luring him somewhere? Trying to send a message? It didn’t seem like a Yama Nushi, and with its garish fur and plump form, it was too out of place to be some kind of guardian spirit. But then, that was perhaps the point in it leading him off somewhere. Intrigued, Ginko followed.

The cave opening was not large, but roughly rounded and hung heavily with vegetation. It smelled fresh, with a hint of moisture and a faint aroma of floral blossoms. The scent made think him of the description he’d heard on his travels of the Kairou, a time looping mushi, and he felt a faint shiver of fear. He didn’t particularly want to go ahead but the cat seemed quite insistent now, circling around his feet, and miaowing loudly as it butted his leg again. With a sigh, Ginko pushed the vines aside and entered.

It was dark inside, but he could find his way along the wall by touch, and a warm breeze was blowing from somewhere within. Suddenly, there was a dazzle of light as Ginko emerged from the tunnel on the other side. He was in a clearing on a sunny spring afternoon, circled by a ring of cherry trees. Everything around was green and blooming, and a carpet of pink petals littered the ground, where a dark haired boy was lying unmoving, while another knelt anxiously beside him. 

Upon seeing Ginko, the second boy stood and hurried over to him – “Sensei! What’s going on? Where have you been?! It’s been hours, and I’ve been getting worried - I haven’t been able to wake Tanuma since he fell asleep and… ”

“Um, excuse me, I’m not a doctor, I’m just a travelling mushishi…” Ginko was just beginning his usual self-introduction when a voice came from behind him. 

“He wasn’t talking to you, mushishi, he was talking to me – relax, Natsume, it just took me a while to find the guy, that’s all.” 

The cat had talked.

There was a fair bit of shouting and exclaiming after that, and Ginko had to have another cigarette to calm his nerves. If the talking cat hadn’t been enough, it seemed clear that he’d followed it into another world, a strange place where it was currently springtime, where spirits and youkai were real but mushi were not, but also where his medicines were instead effective against certain kinds of magical ailments. And for once, no one commented on the strangeness of his clothes, as it was a standard style here – both Natsume and Tanuma were dressed much the same. That, more than anything, had convinced him that he was not in his world anymore. 

Several hours later, they were gathered around a low table in a nearby temple, eating a late dinner of onigiri, pickles and tea as a pale but stronger looking Tanuma explained that with his father was away again, he had been pulling weeds and clearing temple garden when what appeared to be a tiny enokitake mushroom began wriggling in his grip and then, when he held it up to examine it more closely, promptly sneezed in his face before exploding in a cloud of spores. 

“I thought it might be something strange, so I came looking for you, Natsume, but by the time I got to your house, I was already feeling dizzy and so tired – I’m sorry for causing so much trouble.” Tanuma bowed his head.

“No, not at all – I’m just glad you’ve recovered, thanks to Ginko and his medicine.” Natsume looked over to the mushishi with a grateful smile. “You must think this a dangerous place, with all of our ayakashi and oharai, while you can lift curses and counter magic with observation and science in your world.”

“But it's perhaps less interesting than yours, since with a few rare exceptions, you can’t speak to or reason with mushi – they are more like your diseases here, I think.” Ginko was starting to crave another cigarette, although more out of habit than anything else. With no mushi, there was nothing crowding the air around him, as would normally be the case by now. It was rather refreshing.

“Hey! What about thanks to me?!” The cat, who apparently went by the full name of Nyanko-sensei, was well into his second bottle of sake. “I was the one who had to go through to the other side and find him. The time dilation was awful, and I couldn’t even speak over there – it was like I was an *ordinary* cat.” He shuddered. “It was the worst! Plus, you’re not the quickest on the uptake, mushishi, but that’s okay – we got you here in the end. Here, have some sake – these kids are too young to join me in a drink, but you can.”

“Ah, thank you.” Ginko took a sip from the bottle. “Speaking of which, I probably shouldn’t stay here too long – it’s probably been a few days in my world already, so I’d better head back before too long.”

“No problem, no problem.” Nyanko-sensei knocked back another swig. “Here – drink up! I’ll just finish the bottle, and we’ll get back to the cave between worlds. Besides, the weather’s a lot better here – did I mention it was freezing over there?! Middle of winter in the middle of nowhere, with not a decent dango in sight!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll make sure we get you back to the cave before tomorrow morning, no matter how drunk sensei gets.” Natsume murmured as he took the bottle from Nyanko and passed it back to Ginko. “I don’t know how we can pay your though – our money probably wouldn’t be any good to you, and even a magical item might not have any power over there.”

“The cat promised he’d return the favour sometime.” Ginko chuckled. “Actually, the days I end up having spent here might help me out – work can be hard to come by, especially around this time of the year when food stores in the villages get low. But in that case, I might have another drink.”

One drink ended up becoming two or three, and then a whole bottle, which became a few more, (that cat could sure put it away), so in the end he had only the vaguest memories of the rest of the night – some odd looking types who showed up and kept shouting “Kampai!,” speeding through the night sky with a strong wind in his face, lying on something large, warm, white and delightfully fluffy, and finally stumbling back through the cave, singing some absurd song about cats and shogi. When he awoke the next morning, he was in a woodcutter’s hut along the mountain pass. A charcoal fire was still smouldering the brazier. 

He would have thought it all a mushi-induced hallucination or strange dream, had it not been for the little leaf wrapped package carefully tucked next to his head. In were two manju, and as well as a piece of paper with the note “Nanatsujiya’s finest!” and a single, slightly smeared paw print.

Ginko smiled. He’d look forward to seeing that cat again.

**Author's Note:**

> In a few places, I have included terms from Mushishi, these include:
> 
> Koumyaku - River of Light  
> Yama Nushi - Mountain Lord  
> Kairou - Time Looping Mushi
> 
> Also, I picture the "absurd song about cats and shogi" as the Nyan Shogi song from 3-Gatsu No Lion.


End file.
